Market demands for lower fueling costs and higher specific powers in stationary natural gas engines have engine designs trending towards higher in-cylinder pressures and leaner combustion operation. Lean-burn operation of stationary natural gas engines offers lower NOx emissions and improved efficiency. However, ignition remains the main limiting factor in achieving further performance improvements in these engines. A proven pathway to extend lean-burn operation has been to use laser ignition instead of standard spark ignition. Laser ignition can ignite extremely lean air fuel mixtures. However, under lean conditions, flame speed reduces thereby offsetting any efficiency gains resulting from the higher ratio of specific heats. This loss in efficiency can be offset by increasing the number of ignition sites. Optical means to achieve this are expensive, complicated and limited in the spatial separation that they can achieve within the main combustion chamber. Therefore, a need persists to have an ignition system that ignites lean mixtures and facilitates earlier and faster combustion through multi-point ignition.